El Duque meets his match
El Duque was a partial success. That wasn't enough last night because Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo was a complete success.
"That's the story right there," Willie Randolph said. "He was outstanding. Real tough. He changes speeds and uses his curveball to set up his fastball. He pitches backwards."
He certainly turned a potent Mets lineup inside out. Arroyo, a certain All-Star, raised his record to 9-3 by limiting the Mets to seven hits in a 4-2 Reds victory that was his second complete game of 2006.
He and Orlando Hernandez (2-2 as a Met, 4-6 overall) hooked up in a pitching duel for seven innings. El Duque was as resourceful and commanding as ever. His fastball topped out at 90 and he threw one slow curve that didn't break 60.
"Typical El Duque," Randolph said. "He threw well enough to keep us in the game and well enough to win. The only mistake he made was to [Ken] Griffey. He left one out over the plate."
That was in the sixth inning with the score tied at 1. Griffey had struck out twice on high fastballs, so with the count 0-and-2, Hernandez teased the Reds' centerfielder with two slow curves. But Griffey wouldn't bite. So El Duque delivered an 88-mph fastball that was down, but right over the plate. Griffey blasted a solo shot estimated at 440 feet to right-center. It was his 12th homer of 2006, 548th of his career, which tied him with Mike Schmidt for No. 11 on the all-time list, and the 700th home run by the Griffeys.
"I wanted to throw a fastball outside," El Duque said. The pitch wasn't outside enough, especially since Arroyo was being so stingy. He was given some breathing room in the eighth, after El Duque was removed following his seven-inning, eight-hit, two-run performance that included seven strikeouts.
Pedro Feliciano allowed one-out singles to Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns, then hit Scott Hatteberg. Randolph then summoned sidearming righthander Chad Bradford, who has been exceptional of late.
But Bradford allowed a two-run double to right by Brandon Phillips. "He actually made a good pitch. The guy just hit a flare," Randolph said.
In the second inning, Phillips angered El Duque by trying to dodge the Mets' pitcher on a double play in which Hernandez caught a bunt attempt on a fly with Phillips having already raced home. So Hernandez stationed himself on the third-base line and glared at Phillips, who simply stopped and stared back before darting around plate umpire Dan Iassogna, who immediately signaled that Phillips was out for running out of the baseline, even though El Duque applied the tag. He also cursed the Reds' infielder.
Arroyo had the Mets talking to themselves. He allowed a run in the first inning after surrendering a leadoff double to Jose Reyes, and a run in the ninth on a 420-foot home run by Carlos Beltran, whose ground ball in the first scored Reyes.
"The key to his success is that he changes speeds on his breaking pitches," said David Wright, who was 1-for-4 with a soft ground-ball single in the ninth. "He has a herky-jerky motion. He changes his arm angle on his curve. You get a lot of arms, a lot of legs."
Arroyo almost got a lot of trouble in the ninth, as the Mets applied significant pressure. Beltran excited the crowd of 41,874 with his leadoff homer and after Carlos Delgado struck out for the second time, Wright grounded a single to center.
That enabled the Mets to bring the tying run to the plate twice. But Jose Valentin, who had two earlier hits, flied to left on the first pitch, and Xavier Nady, in his first game since May 29, grounded out to third to end the game. "Not quite there yet," said Nady, who had an appendectomy May 30. "But we ran into a really good pitcher."
Tonight
Reds vs. Mets
7:10 p.m.
TV: SNY
Radio: WFAN (660)
